Warner, M.W., and K.B. Warner. 1996. How useful is
gender in explaining the economic roles of Africa’s rural
peoples? In the series on Empirical Agricultural
Economics and Econometrics. Dept. of Agricultural
Economics, Wye College, University of London,
London, UK.
Using household survey data from the Dagomba, in
northern Ghana, this paper seeks to demonstrate that social
constructs in addition to gender are important
determinants of individuals’ economic roles. Although
marital status is not important in explaining men’s
participation in different men’s activities, women’s marital
status does affect the economic activities in which they
engage. In addition, seniority among wives will affect their
economic roles, with junior wives more involved in cooking
and senior wives more able to be involved with activities
outside of the compound.
Warner, M.W., R.M. Al-Hassan, and J.G. Kydd. 1997.
Beyond gender roles? Conceptualizing the social and
economic lives of rural peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Development and Change 28(2): 143-68.
Recent approaches to understanding development have
often examined men’s and women’s gender roles, but this
level of analysis has not been enough. The authors argue
that it is important to consider the roles of men and women
of different social standing within a village. Using a case
study of the Dagomba in northern Ghana, the researchers
identity five categories of social standing for women: retired
cooking wives, active cooking wives, junior wives,
unmarried women, and divorced women. Women in these
different categories have different roles, opportunities, and
responsibilities. Development programs need to consider
these different roles, in particular to address the labor
burdens of junior wives through labor-saving technologies
and to expand the opportunities for senior women to
contribute through increasing income-generating
opportunities.
Watts, M.J. 1983. The political economy of climatic
hazards: A village perspective on drought and peasant
economy in a semi-arid region of West Africa. Cahiers
d’Etudes Africaines 23: 37-72.
This paper seeks to explain the problem of food and hunger
in drought-prone northern Nigeria. It examines production
from a political economy viewpoint that accounts for social
inequality and peasant differentiation. Claiming that the
roots of contemporary hunger are found in the political
economy of colonialism, peasant reactions to drought and
risk in the precolonial and colonial periods are examined.
Subsistence patterns, such as risk aversion, are modern
manifestations of dealing with climatic hazards. Risk
aversion is not uniformly distributed among village
households; hazard response is contingent upon social
status, with the poorest farmers unable to engage in many
risk-reducing activities. Maize stores are a source of food
security for the hungry period, and all agricultural
production is tied to political and social factors. Although
gender issues are not discussed, Watt’s argument that
socially disadvantaged poor farmers may not have the
resources to reduce risk can be readily applied to many
women farmers. Indeed, a political economy view of hazard
response may be useful for considering gender relations
within the household.
Watts, S.J. 1984. Rural women as food processors and
traders: Eko-making in the Ilorin area of Nigeria.
Journal of Developing Areas 19: 71-82.
Rural women around the area of Ilorin in Nigeria
frequently produce eko, a maize-meal snack. Eko-making is
a low-profit, labor-intensive activity. The majority of
women producers buy the maize that they use. Some
purchase it from their husbands, but they must pay the
market rate. During the hungry season, when the cost of
maize and other inputs increases, customers are not willing
to pay higher prices for eko and thus the profit margins are
lower. The increased availability of maize at lower prices
would benefit these women.
Watts, M. 1991. Entitlements or empowerment? Famine
and starvation in Africa. Review of African Political
Economy 51: 9-26.
This paper reviews recent research on famine in Africa. It
argues that the entitlement approach associated with
Amartya Sen, while useful for focusing on the specific
social, political, and institutional relations between people
and food, must be examined within the larger framework of
political economy. By exploring how entitlements and
endowments are distributed and contested, the idea of
entitlements is expanded to include empowerment. The
article notes that even within the household, competition
exists along gender and generational lines for entitlements.
During times of crisis, these struggles may be exacerbated
and the household may eventually disintegrate. Hence,
gender subordination prior to a crisis can explain why
women are neglected, abandoned, divorced, or sold into
prostitution during famine to ensure male survival.
Entitlements based on gender and their implications for
intrahousehold food access and distribution are discussed.
Whitaker, C.N.C. 1996. The impact of women’s
participation in an income-generation program in
southwestern Tanzania. PhD dissertation. Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
Women’s participation in a credit and income-generation
project in Tanzania is the focus of this dissertation. One
component of the project involved increasing the output of
maize for sale. Background information on women’s income
and women’s roles in household decision-making and the
changes that occurred as a result of the project are
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